July 20, 2008

I'm off for my 4th drive to Milwaukee to see the 4th round of the U.S. Bank Championship (where my nephew, Cliff Kresge is now in 30th place). Yesterday, we got soaked by rain and chilled, but he had one of the "hot rounds" of the day, so we were happy.

No need to tell me that I could get a hotel room and not drive back and forth 88 miles every day. I know that. This is the way I do it.

I have my ways....

But this post isn't meant to be about me and my ways or about golf. This is just an extra place I'm setting up for you.

You can talk about your idiosyncratic ways. Are there some things you do that people are always informing you that you could do differently — as if you didn't know?

Is there anything else you want to talk about?

This is your Sunday coffeehouse. And it can be like my favorite Madison coffeehouse:

You know what? I thought it was true and then Mrs. Bissage confirmed it last night.

Have you seen that McCain “Summer-of-Love” campaign ad? Althouse blogged it here.

Well, a great mystery has been solved.

That narrator dude is the same dude who played the creepy white Vice-President dude in “24” who became President when the black President dude got blasted by the slimy tape recorder thing spotted by the skuzzy Arab dude who tried to warn everybody but it was too late and then it turns out the fat, middle-aged white President dude is banging that great-looking white chick but she's also getting the high, hard one from some terrorist dude and she's been letting the little head do the thinking for the big head all along.

We’re having a combination heat wave/drought here in USDA zone 6b and Mrs. Bissage just came in from watering the flowers to give me the hairy eyeball because I’m still playing on the computer instead of doing the stuff I’m supposed to be doing around the house.

And I’m sure a lot of the Althouse community have been wondering what she looks like.

For you or me, Michael_H., yes. But for the Professor... one would just have to accept that she has her transcontinental ways.

"Well . . . picture if you will . . ."

Mmm... hawt (as the kids say). Hot and sweaty, as I say. Either way, I might not mind being henpecked myself by such irresistible beauty.

But that reminds me - here's one of my idiosyncratic ways: I like to mow ground ivy. Yes mow it. Not pull it. Not spray it with roundup or vinegar. But mow it with a lawn mower. Preferably, a riding lawn mower. Or, as we say here in zone 6b (that superior and most enviable zone of all zones), a ride'em mower.

I hate driving, so I always get a hotel room if I have to go back two days in a row to anything over about 40 miles. And if it's very far, I fly. And I save miles so that I can upgrade, rather than get a free flight, because I hate flying these days. I just can't bring myself to use miles to buy a flight where you will be wedged into a torture device of a seat for 4 hours and drizzle your 11 peanuts down your gullet if you get hungry.

That actor is Powers Booth who also played Jim Jones the cult-leader nutcase who killed a Congressman and hundreds of his own followers. Jones devised great-tasting Kool Aid that his like-minded folks found hard to resist. I think Jones is Al Gore's idol btw.

I was in college back then and had a job driving a truck (Teamsters Local 628) for the Bulletin. I was in my Bulletin truck in Roxborough around Manatawna Street when the news of the Jonestown massacre came over the truck radio. It was about 330AM on a Sunday morning.

Hey Simon, did you see that Scalia cited Lysander Spooner's The Unconstitutionality of Slavery in the Heller opinion? Spooner, while clearly establishing in the first chapter that the only real law is natural law, admitted arguendo that man-made laws exist which may or may not conflict with natural justice, and sought to demonstrate that the man-made U.S. Constitution did not countenance the moral abomination of slavery. He did so by advocating Scalia's textualist interpretation of the Constitution more than a hundred years before Scalia, which should warm the heart of any Scaliaphile. His argument needed to be textualist, because it was fairly obvious that the original intent of the Founding Fathers was not to make slavery unconstitutional.

His argument also hinged on the following critical rule of interpretation, which he sets out at the beginning of the second chapter:

Taking it for granted that it has now been shown that no rule of civil conduct, that is inconsistent with the natural rights of men, can be rightfully established by government, or consequently be made obligatory as law, either upon the people, or upon judicial tribunals ‑‑ let us now proceed to test the legality of slavery by those written constitutions of government, which judicial tribunals actually recognize as authoritative.In making this examination, however, I shall not insist upon the principle of the preceding chapter, that there can be no law [*16] contrary to natural right; but shall admit, for the sake of the argument, that there may be such laws. I shall only claim that in the interpretation of all statutes and constitutions, the ordinary legal [*17] rules of interpretation be observed. The most important of these rules, and the one to which it will be necessary constantly to refer, is the one that all language must be construed "strictly" in favor [*18] of natural right. The rule is laid down by the Supreme Court of the United States in these words, to wit: "Where rights are infringed, where fundamental principles are [*19] overthrown, where the general system of the laws is departed from, the legislative intention must be expressed with irresistible clearness, to induce a court of justice to suppose a design to effect such objects." [*20]It will probably appear from this examination of the written constitutions, that slavery neither has, nor ever had any constitutional existence in this country; that it has always been a mere abuse, sustained, in the first instance, merely by the common consent of the strongest party, without any law on the subject, and, in the second place, by a few unconstitutional enactments, made in defiance of the plainest provisions of their fundamental law.

It warms my heart to think that Scalia, or at least his clerks, has read Spooner.

Which brings us back to our brief discussion yesterday, one which we've also had in the past: why should a lawyer (or even a judge for chrissakes) have to swear an oath to uphold the Constitution as a condition for appearing in court? What the Constitution means was obviously a subject of intense debate in Spooner's time (e.g. in relation to slavery), as it continues to be in our time, with the textualists and originalists having very different views than the living constitutionalists. So what are we swearing to uphold? Should the Republicans seek to amend the oath to clarify that judges are swearing to uphold a textualist interpretation of the Constitution? Perhaps when I swear the oath I'm doing so with the implicit understanding that all human laws are dependent upon the natural law for their validity, just as the living constitutionalists are swearing their oath with the understanding that the interpretation of constitutional provisions are subject to evolving standards of decency and whatnot. My understanding of the Constitution and its natural limits is not so irrational or lacking in historical antecedents that it should be hounded from the legal profession by what would amount to a political or religious test. It was the view of Aquinas. It was the principle underlying the Nuremberg Trials.

So at best the oath is meaningless and superfluous, but needlessly burdening the conscience and chilling valuable speech. Is my license to practice law in jeopardy if I cite approvingly and say I share the views of Spooner's No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority? If so, they can have it.

"always get a hotel room if I have to go back two days in a row to anything over about 40 miles."

Wimps!! The closest large town to me is a 150 mile round trip. I have to report for jury selection this week which means that I have the wonderful privilege of driving for 3 hours and spending over $40 in gasoline .....and hope hell I don't get selected. I wonder how crazy I can act and get away with it?

We routinely drive to "town" a couple of times a month for BIG shopping at Costco. A casual fun day trip would be about 300 to 400 miles of driving.

Gardening zone 7B. It's gonna get to the high 90's AGAIN today and it's so smokey from all the fires we can only go outside for a few minutes at a time to do yard work. The sun is a dimly glowing red ball. Worse than my early years in LA where you were surprised on the occasional clear day that there actual mountains surrounding the basin.

Yes, Trooper, I understand. Everybody's engaging in lighthearted banter and then somebody breaks in with some serious self-important sounding stuff and kills the mood. But we're not milling in a small group at a tailgater where everybody's part of a captive audience. This was a response to Simon, who generally goes in for all things Scalia-related. I know it's not your thing.

I just knew somebody would try to chill my speech. I just didn't think it would be with a cannoli:)

Hey that's how we do it in Brooklyn. If you stuff a cannoli or maybe hand them a plate of ravioli with some meatball and sausages on the side, they might kick back and eat a little, have a little wine, break off a crust of bread and dip it in the sauce. You know, relax on a Sunday morning after church and have a day of rest.

(1) Meade, loved the ride’em mower, and yes, I know what you mean. I’ve used a lawn mower on ground ivy before and it smells great. But I had to pull this time because it got into the compost I put over a red oak sapling (Lowe’s Home Improvement, twenty-four bucks. Ha!) and it was a freaking foot tall right up to the trunk.

You might like to know that last week I engaged in a fight-to-the-death with the biggest, meanest, nastiest round headed borer ever seen by God, man or beast! It was an epic battle. Just me and a length of 12 gauge ground wire against him. It was the exact same thing as Gandalf and the Balrog!

We fought and we fought, until at last, I threw down my enemy and smote his ruin upon the mountainside. Afterwards, he pretty much looked like this. Dis-GUST-ing!

(2) Palladian, I never wear gloves when I pull ground ivy and thanks to you I now have a new leading theory about why my recurrent jock itch simply will not respond to fast-actin’ Tinactin®. Dis-GUST-ing!

(3) AJ, I was thinking of you when I posted that death-moan from the Inquirer. Ha!

And yes, I remember the Bulletin. Perhaps it might have survived longer had it cussed more. Does anyone read the Daily News for anything other than sports? Have they ever?

(4) DBQ, if you really want to get out of jury duty, my advice is: Don’t be shy in telling them what you really think. Don’t lie but if you think Americans are too litigious, say so. There’s a medical malpractice crisis? Say so. A relative works for an insurance company? The criminal defendant is probably guilty or else he wouldn’t be getting prosecuted? Cops are more honest than defendants? Judges don’t put criminals away for long enough? You honestly think you cannot be fair? Let them know. Nothing bad will happen to you.

But that said, I recommend you give it a try. Serving on a jury is an opportunity to make a real difference and do good by enabling justice (with a capital “J”) that eludes the vast majority of people.

Years ago my mother-in-law was popping off at the dinner table (as usual) about something or other – maybe the O.J. Simpson trial or the McDonald’s scalding coffee case. She was going on and on about how stupid the jury was and blah, blah, blah and I said, “Mom, have you ever actually, you know, served on a jury? Do you have any idea what it’s like having to determine credibility and weigh evidence and apply the law as the Judge charges and get eleven other people to agree with you?”

Well, of course the answer was no.

What’s my point? I’m not really sure anymore. It’s just to say I envy you that you have this opportunity to make a real difference in a way that really matters.

Good luck.

(5) Okay everybody, I’ve dried out (more or less) and it’s time to go back outside. The attic thermometer on the desk here says 126 degrees. It’ll be cooler under the trees. But still, that’s not a good sign. See ya!

I do not really like much frozen aside from blueberries Reminded me of a joy of childhood: Frozen blueberries with milk and sugar, annually indulged at my grandmother's cottage at White Lake, NC, then a blueberry region. You couldn't see the house from the road because of the Spanish moss. After she sold it in 1984, the new owners cleared all the cypress trees and put in trailers. And A/C, TV, hot water and showers.

For those in southern Wisconsin, Eagle River is in the vast area described as "Up Nort". For everyone else, it's located about 20 miles south of the border that separates Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

It seems like I'm living in an aviary this afternoon. A flock of mallard ducks is paddling just off shore; the drake is sitting on my dock. A pair of loons (insert your own pun here) are calling.

Two eagles are in trees in my front yard; one of them has picked up a fish from the lake and is now on the ground pulling it apart.

A small flock of crows are squalling at the eagles. A pileated woodpecker is machine-gunning its way to lunch on a dead red pine tree. North woods boom box, nothing like it.

The plan is to stay here off and one most of the balance of the month and a good part of August. Through careful planning, I've taken a four day job - repainting the cottage and three outbuildings - into an task that will last several weeks.

Serving on a jury is an opportunity to make a real difference and do good by enabling justice (with a capital “J”) that eludes the vast majority of people.

Yeah. I wouldn't mind and I think I would be a good and impartial juror. I just don't feel it's fair to expect me to drive 150 miles a day over winding mountainous roads to show up to court. The expense would be prohibitive: gasoline is over $5.00 a gallon or if I stayed in a motel at least $75.00 a night for the cheaper rooms. Plus meals. Not to mention I would not be able to work and that would cost me a lot of money as I'm self employed, with only a part time non licensed employee, working with a commission and fee based business. If I were on jury duty for even one week it would cost me thousands of dollars.

Frankly, I would be so pissed off at the huge inconvenience and lost income that I would probably go out of my way (which isn't all that hard) to be a complete bitch about it.

Lombardi only became coach of the cheese heads because he couldn't cut it in New York as an assistant coach. Mara let him and old Tom Landry go because they were not up to par. Plus the NFL told them they couldn't win anymore because the TV guys said they had to spread the championships around. You know to build interest with you rubes in the hinterlands. So they had to go along, because you know the NFL is run by the Mob. Old Wellengton didn't want them to drown him like they did to Carroll Rosenblum.

I'm listening to the Milwaukee Brewers taking on the San Fran Giants. And, then it occurs to me, Giants? Any relation? Well, yes, they used to be the New York Giants, and they left New York also. What's up with that?

Soon, the latest census report of NYC will be published, and the only resident will be...

Trooper York said... Hey that's how we do it in Brooklyn. If you stuff a cannoli or maybe hand them a plate of ravioli with some meatball and sausages on the side, they might kick back and eat a little, have a little wine, break off a crust of bread and dip it in the sauce.

And then, bada bing!!!! A bullet in the head. Leave the gun, take the canoli.

As this thread is labeled "golf," I thought I'd break in with a little golf-related story/question. This is about my son, and I just learned about it a couple of hours ago.

First, you should know I don't play golf for fun. I basically hate it. I learned to play but stink, and it bores me silly.

My oldest son just turned 14. He has been taking golf lessons on and off through the rec department in our town for the past year. He really enjoyed it and had a lot of fun. That's fine with me, because the more sports he knows/plays the better. He's been taking the advanced skills course since he got back from camp a couple of weeks ago, and he's been telling me strange things, like he drove a straight 240 yard shot the other day, and his average is a bit under 200 yards, which is the second best in the class. These are 14-17-year-olds.

My boy is in great shape, but he's not super strong, and he certainly isn't big. His 11-year-old brother has an inch or so on him, which makes for interesting times around the house, and a 240 yard drive a little hard to believe.

So, a good friend who is an avid golfer agreed to take my son to the country club today, along with his sons and another kid. Our friend's been trying to interest his sons more seriously in golf, and very generously offered to take our boy along for a round on a good course. This is the first time our son has played a game on a course. He's been learning skills, but he has never actually played before. He prides himself, however, on knowing all the rules and etiquette—or at least as many as a 14-year-old is likely to remember.

They were rained out after 12 holes. My son shot a +4 in 11 holes, and would have gotten a birdie on one hole if the ball hadn't bounced out of the cup. Our friend was amazed. He says our boy is the best kid he's ever seen, and a total natural. He couldn't believe it was his first time on a course. He thinks our son has a future in golf.

We had already enrolled him in the next class, which will play on the course. My question is where do we go from here? Our high school has a golf team, but what should I do the keep this kid motivated and getting better during the next year in middle school, especially as his dad is not about to become a golfer? What does an upward path in the world of golf look like? I'm already thinking college scholarship, but are there that many for golf? Am I getting far too ahead of myself? Could this be a total fluke?

If there are any other 'golf parents' who can give me advice, I can't tell you how much I'd appreciate it.

I'll send you an autographed ball when he makes the cut in the U.S. Bank Open in about 14 years ;-)

Nice to see Greg Norman come out of so many years of being wholly or mostly away from golf and doing so well at the Open.

He didn't win it, but while he was away from the links he built a flourishing business empire worth 550-600 million. Two jets, 5 homes worth another 20 million, 3 wineries, and he's banging, playing tennis with, and wedded to equally elderly Chris Evert.

Norman will just struggle on, loser that sports announcers say he is, I suppose.

The Shark was shocked when told his Brit Open performance made him gain a spot to the Masters, if he wants it. Said he's done with golf this year after a senior's event and an exhibition, but next January, maybe, he will have to give the Master's some thought.

That's way cool Theo. I know a couple of guys who went to St. Johns on a golf scholarship. There are tons of them available. Think Stanford. Or better yet Duke. Get him someplace warm where he can play all year round. That's money in the bank.

And when he gets really, really good, give me a call and I will explain the theory and practice behind point shaving.

2. Jury duty is for chumps. No self-respecting free-thinker will be able to stand it. And, to be truthful, the attornies don't want you. They want the sheeple- the civil servants, union teachers, union law-enforcers, postal workers and other servants of teh public.

3. There are about 135 riders still in the Tour. Tomorrow is an off-day in Cuneo, Italy. I imagine they are dining on really fine cannolis.

I'm late to this party. I would rather commute than stay at a hotel. I love road-tripping, listening to loud music with the windows and sunroof open. Moody Blues are in the front seat CD player right now. Little Feat, Dave Brubeck, Chopin, and others in the changer in the back. Grace Potter, Yes, Widespread Panic, Joe Bonamassa, and Susan Tedeschi are in the side pockets, waiting to be summoned.

Golf tourney? No, thank you, but I understand the passion, as I watch it gnaw at several friends.

Well, in typical fashion, my wife was way ahead of me about my son's newfound golf abilities, mentioned a little upthread. She's already been looking into the relative availability of golf scholarships. It turns out that the pro, who teaches the classes at the course my son's been going to, is aware of my boy. I'm told that if my son pans out as well as he might, we'll be getting a call. There's a whole world of golf I've been remarkably ignorant of that awaits our son if he's truly the next Tiger Woods or even Cliff Kresge.

So, it looks like golf will find us, whether or not we had any idea about any of it. That said, I don't want to screw this up, so, again, I'd love to hear other golf parents stories.

I did a stint of jury duty last year and it was totally enjoyable. Now, I'm the kind of person who went through the court system with a speeding ticket just to see how the procedure works, and just to see what kinds of other people are there -- I love to people watch.

My conclusion at the end of the 1-day trial: the assistant DA was an idiot. Also, it's very hard to judge when the accuser and accused neither speak a lick of English (they were both elderly Hmong and it was a split up and a question of who owned what).

Frankly, I would be so pissed off at the huge inconvenience and lost income that I would probably go out of my way (which isn't all that hard) to be a complete bitch.

Sit and think about those statements (admittedly out of context), and whether you want to own them in the context of the larger worldview about which you're so articulate, and also your expectations of others, living in different contexts, about which you've also been so articulate.

What's fundamental and what's blowing smoke, DBQ? Or could it be that, in your mind (as in many others' mind) there are multiple contexts and standards? I, myself, don't find that shocking, that people are like that: it's what they do. You, on the other hand, tend to be quite vociferous about limiting the range.

Theo, I have to say that it's great to hear a parent of a gifted child when that parent is clueless as to the extent of the gift. Maybe I've been around too many parents lately who are living their dreams through their kids :)

I hope your son has a long and successful career as a golfer -- or at least that he finds something he can do exceptionally well that gives him great joy.

..and I didn't mean during play. It's not like I expect you to yell out Hi Cliffy! It's your Auntie!! when he walks by you on the fairway...but do you see him after each round, or just after the tourney? I wonder how much the golfers isolate themselves during a tournament.

The last time I had jury duty, I contracted pneumonia from one of the persons sitting next to me. My cardiologist believes that triggered my heart attack. After spending 6 days in intensive care as a result, my willingness to answer a jury summons dropped to zero.

MadisonMan said..."P.S. Professor Althouse: I think it's great you got to watch your nephew do well on the Golf Course. Do you get to interact with him during a tournament, or do you just see him after?"

During the round, he knows we're there and it benefits him, but we don't have conversations. He has to concentrate. If we cheer, he can tell it's us. So there is actually a lot of very low key interaction, I think. Afterwards, we do talk, go to dinner, etc.

Thanks, Michael_H! Interesting and encouraging story. As I mentioned, my wife has been finding out similar things. We are both grinning from ear to ear at the prospect of not being bankrupted in our old age.

Trooper: You're a bad influence! He'll have to watch 19 episodes of South Park, just to put such rotten ideas out of his mind!

And, thanks, MadisonMan. That is so true about so many parents, but we're definitely not living vicariously through our kids.

Frankly, I hope our oldest will turn out to be very good at golf, perhaps get a scholarship, and have a focus on something that he does really well in life, as you say. I would have hoped it was music, but as solid a musician as he has turned out to be, it is not where he lives.

He loves sports, and he seems to have found something special in golf. He's a very solid kid who does everything reasonably well, whether it's sports, chess, or music. Of those, he has the most raw talent for chess, but he loves sports more, and, like every kid, has had some dreams of being a professional athlete.

But, as someone who has made a living as a musician, and who makes a living making expensive musical instruments mostly used by serious students and professional performers, I can tell you that performance—of any kind—is a rough way to go. If golf becomes my oldest boy's life, far be it from me to hold him back, but he should go into it with his eyes open.

I'm back from a busy day, and I see this thread is slightly more active than yesterday's. Good. Hope you all had a great time.

As for "Mamma Mia!", it was fun. That's the most I can say about it. Fun. I think certain people will adore it, and call it one of the best films of this summer -- but not me.

I fancy if you liked "Across the Universe" and other recent musicals, you'll love Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Julie Waters and Co. showboating it up.

BTW, I thought of Titus when I read Slate's review of MM.

Well, it's hard not to especially after this paragraph:

It posits a transgenerational, pansexual paradise that's so deeply queer that when one of the characters comes out of the closet late in the movie, the revelation seems superfluous. We've just spent the last 90 minutes singing ABBA while line-dancing on docks in snorkeling flippers, and you're telling us you're gay? Big whoop.

BTW, in my cinema audience some people (including kids) got up in random aisles and started swaying and singing along.

Now, I'm the kind of person who went through the court system with a speeding ticket just to see how the procedure works, and just to see what kinds of other people are there -- I love to people watch.

Wow, I did that too. Just to get my Law & Order moment with the judge.

The cop showed up, I won after I presented my side of the story, and previously the (Jewish) bailiff told my (Jewish) friend to take off his hat when the (Jewish) Judge entered, to which I replied no offense is intended to the Bench, he's just Orthodox. They made him take it off anyway.

Since I was the 5th case heard, I got to hear all the other tales of traffic court and their outcomes. Absolutely fascinating.

Well, in my case I had been speeding. 35 in a 25 zone -- just past the bridge on Johnson before Sherman here in Madison. The funny part (for me) was the people in front of me in court -- they all offered one lame excuse after another about why they were speeding, as if that would make a difference. Hello! Speeding is speeding. I just pled guilty. The judge was relieved not to hear another sob story.

Jury duty is a civic responsibility and a privilege. HOWEVER it shouldn't be such a burden on the prospective juror that it puts their life in danger, is a financial hardship. Not just a little inconvenience but a severe one.

Victoria can't wait to be a juror. I bet your enthusiasm would be dampened by having to drive over 150 miles round trip on a two lane mountainous road with deer jumping out in front of you and loaded double trailer hay and logging trucks going both ways with insane people trying to pass on blind curves. Now (according to our paper) has road delays from 4 construction projects that will make the drive to jury duty about 4.5 hours. AND we get to pay over $5.00 a gallon for regular gasoline. Yeah...I bet you couldn't wait for this wonderous experience.

It isn't like I can just ditty bop on down to the courthouse in a short drive. They expect me to drive the daily distance that would amount to across an entire State in the midwest. How would you like to be called for jury duty in Madison and have to drive to St Paul for jury duty???

I'm self employed, not employed by somebody else. If I don't show up for work....I make no money. No one is going to pay me for time off for jury duty. If I don't show up for work....other people can lose money.

I can't make any client appointments because I have to call each night to see if we have to show up. So not only is my life in a holding pattern where I can make no plans, the same is now true of my customers who I have told that their appointments are subject to being canceled and that I will call them the night before if that is the case.

Would it be fascinating to be a juror?. Sure. I would be a good juror. So when I show up for my cattle call, I'll answer the questions and be a good girl. If I'm actually (God forbid with any luck) selected, I'll serve and I'll resent every second of it.

Explain to the judge your circumstances. I've been on jury duty for a bunch of trials. If you are seriously going to suffer an economic hit, or an inability to make the drive, the judge will take that into consideration and dismiss you. I've dealt with judges from Polk County, WI, and everyone of them have dismissed potential jurors for all kinds of hardships. Let us know what happens.

DBQ, this wasn't an intended slap to you (frankly, I hadn't read what you had written! I was replying to MM's anecdote, in large part).

Remember that I'm also a little eccentric -- I'm the girl who, a few hours after the Twin Towers were hit, walked into a navy recruiters and tried to enlist.

When I was turned down, I became a Guardian Ad Litem (which depressed me), then a CYO counsellour, then I served turkey in a homeless shelter every Thanksgiving, then finally, I pounced on being a poll worker, being appointed Clerk of a polling station three years running.

No offense taken. I admire your community involvement in endeavours that would be very depressing to me.

Just so everyone doesn't think that I'm not interested in doing my civic duties......I'm involved with the local Chamber of Commerce (past President and Treasurer), Rotary, sit on the board of the local Water and Parks and Recreation District, on the board of a non profit organization that serves as a redevelopment funding source and still work with 4-H kids in cooking and art project even though my child is a grown up woman. Love working with the kids.

FWIW, every penny I've earned over the last 14+ years has been as a self-employed person. Before that, there were a couple of years like that, and there were many, many more where self-employed income made up a significant part. (I won't even go into the multiple-job holding parts, most of which required my finding a way to "do" benefits in an effective way.)

erhaps not coincidentally, my husband is someone who, likewise, has spent many more years than not as self-employed, personal work- and income-generating person. In his case, I think he's been an "employee" just 9-1/2 years, total, over his 23-year post college life. Even in the case of those, 9-1/2 years, there have been only 2 in which he's not ALSO been involved in an independent, small business of his own.

BOTH sides of our families have deep roots in the ranks of the self-employed, the freelancer, the small biz person & etc. One could even venture to say that, in and to one degree or another, and in different ways, we were each born into it and raised within that ethic.

There's a long history of volunteering and civic engagement, by the way, including serving on local boards. But, as the kids say, "whatever"--about all of this of mine, and all of that of yours, and the original point as well. There's always an explanation and reason, after all. Now, isn't there?

Of course someone is going to pay you! You are! (Jury-duty time has been clocked within our little DH-DW company.)

It isn't like I can just ditty bop on down to the courthouse in a short drive.

I don't question that one, at all. But you could be more creative, even productive, business wise, in more than the four or five ways I can think of, off the top of my head. Having read your comments for a couple of years now, and given my personal reason for having insight into the financial planner psyche, I think you could be even more creative--both in terms of advancing your business, and also managing the costs.

I'm self employed, not employed by somebody else. If I don't show up for work....I make no money. No one is going to pay me for time off for jury duty. If I don't show up for work....other people can lose money.

Sentence #2: On the face of that, yes. In the reality of it, no. Unless you're inflexible about working hours, or are lazy, or unable to rise to those occasions in which above-ordinary effort and dedication is required.

Sentence #3: As I already said (in a previous): Of course, someone is going to pay you! You are! (You know: in the way you get to take vacations, when "no one" is "paying for it"--I mean, really, wtf?)

Sentence #4: Bullshit. That's only going to happen if--as alluded to before--you throw your hands up and/or you're so rigid that you can't figure out how to cope outside of 9-5 hours, or you're either such a light-weight or such a resentment-obsessive that you can't think straight enough to figure out **how anyone in your situation could manage**!!

Well, a lot of people, across the strata, could claim that. Arguably, you have more skills and where-with-all than most to cope not just with this situation but a bunch of others. In fact, over time, you keep telling us that you know exactly what to do, and what ought to be done in "situations." You're particularly disdainful with regard to the struggles of people, who, well, aren't in the same strata as you. Who don't rise to the challenge of fulfilling civic duty as you think they should--and who, instead, offer excuses.

reader: Unless you're inflexible about working hours, or are lazy, or unable to rise to those occasions in which above-ordinary effort and dedication is required.

I'm a single person stock broker and financial planner with a part time non licensed contracted helper and therefore my hours ARE somewhat inflexible: tied to the markets. I need to be able to make contact with other financial professionals, mutual fund companies, insurance companies, trading desks, bond brokers and my back office.....all of whom work a basic Mon-Fri 7 to 6pm schedule and many are in different time zones. And while I can place some predetermined trades before and after market hours, my clients expect to be able to have me make transactions for them during the trading day and I do not have discretionary trading authority on my client's accounts. This means I must meet with them face to face or on the phone to discuss any transactions before I can place a trade, in addition to my regularly scheduled reviews. I operate more like a Doctor's office than anything other type of business. By appointment and I have to meet with my clients at THEIR conveniences and not usually after 9pm or before 4am. Weekends? Sure, I do that all the time if the client requests.

As to getting paid for time off, I'm pointing out that for those of you who work for other people and for companies that have benefit packages, a few paid days off might make jury duty seem "fun". To me it means that I'm not meeting with clients, not placing trades, not working, not managing my client's portfolios, unavailable to my clients (which they DON'T like) and not making income.

I can work this way for a few days but no longer than 5 which is the longest time I've had off from work in the last 12 years.

In fact, over time, you keep telling us that you know exactly what to do, and what ought to be done in "situations." You're particularly disdainful with regard to the struggles of people, who, well, aren't in the same strata as you.

Am I opininated. You bet. I don't think I'm disdainful of people who aren't in my "strata", whatever that means. I've been broke in my life, was a single mother, lived on food stamps so I know how hard it can be. I also know if people want to (unless they have some actual disabilities that prohibit them) they can better themselves. I've worked hard to get what I have and where I am in my career and apologize to no one.